Study of PES sewing thread properties

The properties of 100 % PES core-spun threads were studied before and after the sewing process at different stitching speeds, by determination of the threads tensile force during the sewing process and by changes of the mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties after the sewing process. This analytical method is especially advantageous when monitoring contemporary thermal and mechanical effects, as is the case when loading the sewing thread. Loadings during the sewing process cause structural changes in the thread-twisted fibres. This is confirmed by changes in the thermo-mechanical properties after the sewing process. Simultaneously, changes in the threads mechanical properties after sewing were also observed.     

A hierarchical view of the interactions of runoff and infiltration with vegetation and microtopography in semiarid shrublands

Measurements of runoff and infiltration were made at five spatial scales, terracette (<1 m), hummock (10–20 m²), part-slope (1000–2000 m²), slope (1 ha) and catchment (50 ha), on a shrubland and an open forest site. The study was aimed at understanding the relationships between runoff production, vegetation patterns and microtopography at different spatial scales within a sparsely vegetated, semiarid area. The results of runoff monitoring and rainfall simulation experiments showed that runoff did not occur at the slope scale. It was buffered at the terracette level by nonuniform infiltration at the rims of terracettes and at the hummock scale by rapid infiltration under oak shrubs and trees. Slope and catchment runoff were not connected to runoff at these fine scales. The field evidence is discussed within the context of hierarchy theory, and the implications for management of these shrublands are related to maintaining both the vegetation mosaic and runoff on these slopes.